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I did check their website first, and found that comments like ‘very clean’ should really have said ‘some dings and paint loss’ (in fact, to their credit they amended that description a few days later).
So, if you have seen something online, I would consider giving them a bell to ask them to inspect the guitar in question over the phone
They seemed like nice guys, and did ceed to a little bit of negotiation in a friendly way.
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/131203/beware-famous-vintage-dealer#latest
If it were me I would be patient and seek one out on Ebay or Reverb. Your patience will probably save you the best part of a grand. They are way overpriced. Guitar Village had a few later 80's ones early in the year, one was 3000 and the other 3500. Again way overpriced for my liking.
I found them excellent and always returned calls, emails and even followed up with updates etc...
I guess you can get away with flogging vintage gear to local Sloaneys at 50% markup. That being said, they were quite pleasant the last time I went in there - which was probably 2008.
The Custom wasn't to my taste but I liked both Deluxes as guitars and neither was particularly overpriced for their provenance. One needed a refret and new strings - which surprised me, as I would expect a shop to put decent strings onto a guitar they're selling at a decent price. The other played well and sounded good, but had a very clean white maple neck (no yellowing of the maple, unlike my '70s Strat) and little wear. I suspected it was not original. Which, if so, didn't make it a bad guitar but did make it rather overpriced.
The shop claimed not to know either way. They said both guitars were on consignment sale on behalf of someone who travelled to the US regularly, knew their stuff and often brought back interesting guitars to sell.
If the neck was original, it would have been acceptable at the price being asked. So I suggested we moved forward as follows... I bought the guitar at the asking price - it was a lovely thing. Then, before leaving the shop, I'd take the neck off and look for some provenance that it was original. If so, great. If not, they'd refund me and I'd leave it there. For a little bit of time and effort, they could take the risk away for me and we'd all know where we were.
That, unfortunately, "was not possible". They didn't need to ask the owner about it, it just "was not possible, sir...".
So I walked. Too risky for me to buy without knowing. I don't feel they acted incorrectly. I don't know either way if the guitar had its original neck or not. The point of telling my story is to show another instance where buying vintage can be a minefield.
Cheers for the input guys, i think i'm going to avoid this one purely for this reason. The guitar has some rather super shiny bits for something so old. They've told me it's original but my gut thinks it's too good to be true and i'm not willing to risk a 12 hour round trip to find out. I'll keep hunting in the mean time.
I also have a good friend that works a short walking distance of the shop who thinks there’s been a name change this year.
Not sure if it’s the Shop name Trading name or owners name?
A few months ago they had a guitar I was interested in and my daughter who lives not far from Parsons Green went reluctantly (Dad you don’t need another guitar Your spending my inheritance) to have a look for me.
It was sold when she got there.